Saxophone reed



March 3, 1931. J KlNGsBURY l,795,219

' SAXOPHONE REED Fild Jan. 16, 1929 Patented Mar. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES EDWARD JOSEPH KINGSBURY, OF EVANSVILI'E, INDIAN SAXOPHONE BEED Application flled January 16, 1929. Serial No. 382,931.

The object of the present invention is the provision of an improved reed adapted for use in connection with the mouthpiece of a saxophone or similar musical instrument.

l The improved feature of my reed comprises divergino' grooves or channels which originate at the tip of the reed and terminate at the edges of the reed at points situated about two-thirds of the length of the reed. The

channels form a V-shaped slot whose dept-h is greatest Where the channels meet and which decreases in depth in its diverging branches.

The walls of each channel may be Vertical or inclined and the bottoms of the channels may be of different depths and of either rounded or square shape.

The purpose of the channels is to produce a more inelodious tone than possible with reeds now in use or heretofore known. For instance, should international A-C pitch, require four hundred forty-two vibrations per second to produce a perfect tone, my improved reed will produce the required number 5 of vibrations more melodiously than reeds known to the art of which I have knowledge.

My improved reed enables beginners or students to obtain the desired tones more quickly than heretofore posible.

The lengths and dimensions of the branches of my reed enable the terminii to protrude slightly past the clamp that holds the reed (Fig. 5) and the reed may be as thin as three one thousandths part of an inch. The thin tongue Vibrating upon a large diverging cavity or mouth, resulting Vibration produces Inelodious notes.

Inasmuch as the diverging channels pass through the clamp which holds the reed, the reed is rendered more resilient and any desired Vibration or resiliency to produce different units of music according to the scale, may be obtained.

While I have shown and described my im- 5 provements as particularly applied to the mouthpiece of a saxophone, it is to be understood that it is not thus limited and may be applied to other musical instruments employing a reed.

In the accompanying drawings:

F igure 1 is a plan view of the reed by itsel 2 is an edge view thereof;

.F1gs. 3 and 4. are cross Sections on the lines 8-3 and 4-4, respectively, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the reed applied to the mouthpiece; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof.

The mouthpiece of a saxophone is shown, generally, at 1 and the clamp or ligature 00 which holds the reed, appears at 2.

My improved reed is shown in detail by itself in Figs. 1 to 4. The reed is shown clamped by the ligature 2 to the mouthpiece in Figs. 5 and 6.

The mouthpiece 1 does not enter into the present invention and it Will be understood that my improved reed may be used in connection with mouthpieces of other musical instruments than saxophones.

My improvement comprises a reed 3 having converging grooves or channels 4 which are joined or merge at 5. The cross sectional outline of the channels 4 appears in Figs. 3 and 4 as viewed on the cross sections 3-8 and 4-4 of Fig. 1, the grooves having rounded bottoms and being of that shape where they merge at 5 but it will be understood that the bottom of the grooves may be square or of other shape and that they may be shallower or deeper than as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The grooves 4 may be deepest at the point 5, thence becoming shallower until they reach the points 6 Where they intersect or open out through the edges of the reed.

The channels 4 increase the resiliency of the reed and enable any desired Vibration to be obtained to produce different units of music according to the scale, as previously set forth.

It Will be observed from Fig. 5 that the converging arts of the channels 4 extend beyond the c amp or ligature 2 to render the resiliency of the reed effective.

What I claim is:

1. A reed for a musical Wind instrument,

rovided with channels extending from an end to the side edges of said reed to increase the resiliency of the reed.

2. A reed for a musical Wind instrument,

' provided with diverging channels extending lengthwise of the reed from the region of an end to the regions of the side edges of the 5 thin part thereof to increase the resilienoy of said reed,

8. The combination With the mouthpece i, of a musical Wind instrument; andcthe clamp l i i w thereof, of a reed held on said mouthpiece 'i '10 by said clamp, said reed having'al thin vv-` bratory part 'provided .with exposed' chano; nels on its face, said Channels extending in- Wardy in converging relationship Vto leach other. i

15 4. The combination'wth'the mouthpiece of a musical Wind instrument, and the clamp thereof, of a reed held on said mouthpiece by said clamp, said reed being provided with divergng Channels" exposed beyond the ,'15 CIamP, said divergng Channels extendingfrom the region of one endthereof to the regions of the side edges thereof and having o converging ``Sections exposed beyond said Vclamp. V

f' In testimony whereof Iaflix my signature.

' EDWARD J OSEPH iKINGSBURY. 

